Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Helpful Facts about Marine Iguanas

By Abraham Itunnu


The marine iguana lives in the sea away from the other iguana that is dwelling on the land. It has its exclusive traits of being able to nourish in the sea water. It is prospering only on Galapagos Islands and is named after the island as Galapagos Marine iguana. It lives in its natural habitat in boulders on shores of the Galapagos Islands. These iguanas are likewise living in marshlands on beaches and mangrove.

Marine iguanas are it is said blackish in color and prospering on the sea. Normally, these are not black. Their young kids have a biaxial stripe and the fully grown marine iguanas have grayish color. They actually have a dull color. They have the advantage to absorb heat from sunrays when they come out of water as a consequence of this dark color and can keep themselves warm. They mostly eat marine algae. The excess salts are let go by their body through their nasal glands when they choose sunbath. Their faces become whiter as a consequence of the salt in their bodies.

The color of male marine iguanas changes with the season. When it is the reproduction time, the adult males acquired a teal green or reddish color. The iguanas in the Santa Cruz appear black and brick red. The iguanas flourishing in Fernandina become brick red and dull green. The sizes of marine iguanas also change from one island to another.

In Isabella and Fernandina, you can get the greatest marine iguanas of complete Galapagos Islands. There are smallest marine iguanas living in Genovesa.
Marine iguanas are classified as poikilothermic creatures. They can spend only a jiffy in cold water of sea when they dive in search of their algae food. They usually swim in the places in islands where the water is not deep. After swimming, they normally bask in the sunlight to warm their bodies. In cold days they almost become immobile and easily fall prey to the marauders. They can move only slowly and they strike the invaders with their tails and bite the predators. When their breeding season comes, the male will mate with women and guard them against other males.

Marine iguanas maintain their number and sizes as reported by the availability of food. When algae had decreased at the time of oncoming of El Nio, the marine iguanas also decreased in their length. When the food was available again they regained their sizes to normal. The marine iguanas are not as active as the other species of iguanas. If you keep them pet, cat and dogs will attack them and they cannot save themselves.

As of date the Ecuador's government has imposed laws going to save marine iguanas from extinction. Man-made nesting sites have been created on the smaller islands in order to reduce predators that may harm them.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment